A New Study Says Sugar Can Relieve Stress

Can nutritional guidelines get any more confusing?

Kale is good for you. Never mind, it can lead to hypothyroidism. Salmon, now there’s a healthy meal that’s chock-full of vitamins. Oh but wait, it might have too much arsenic. Water — now that’s one thing we can agree on is safe… but it has to be bottled… and from a mountain spring source… but the plastic from the bottle might flake off and end up in your stomach. Aaaaargh.

Sadly, with all the mixed information out there, the safest way to eat is now to starve yourself to death.

In what may be an attempt to confuse consumers even more, a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reveals that consuming sugar – including from sweetened sodas – can reduce stress.

Apparently, a high sugar content can suppress cortisol, the hormone released by your body in stressful situations.

Candy: It’s What’s For Dinner?

According to study author, Dr. Kevin D. Laugero of UC Davis:

“This is the first evidence that high sugar — but not aspartame — consumption may relieve stress in humans. The concern is psychological or emotional stress could trigger the habitual overconsumption of sugar and amplify sugar’s detrimental health effects, including obesity.”

For the experiment, 19 women between the ages of 18 and 40 were studied for a total of 12 days. They were separated into groups, with 8 of the women drinking only artificially sweetened beverages and 11 of them consuming sugar-sweetened drinks.

The results show that the women who drank the sugary beverages had a lessened cortisol reaction when presented with a stressful situation – in this case, they were asked to solve math problems.

There you go… More confusing evidence about what we should and shouldn’t eat or drink. So all that’s left is for us to decide whether we want to die from obesity, or the stress of trying to stay slim.